Mad World
by Thine Dreamer Doth Take Flight
Summary: This is about the Kid and what he's thinking about during the events of Jak II. My first Jak story, and it's based on the song Mad World by Gary Jules. I'm not good at summaries, so please just read.


_A/N: This is my first attempt at a __**Jak II **__story. Forgive me if it's horrible or doesn't fit; I just got and beat the game this month, along with __**Jak 3**__. Also, I don't own the games or the song Mad World. Naughty Dog and Gary Jules are responsible for their creation. Now please, read on._

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**Mad World**

The war was taking far too long. The Kid knew this, even if the others weren't aware that he knew. All that mattered was that he knew. He knew a lot from traveling with the old man Kor and being watched over by the Underground. He knew the Baron was looking for him in order to prevent his rise to the throne. He knew the Metal Heads were getting stronger and bolder. He knew the Underground wasn't as strong as it should have been when it fought against the Krimzon Guard. He didn't understand most of what it meant, but he knew what was going on with the Underground.

He had also had enough time to know the faces around them, the faces of the people who had become familiar to him. Torn, the rough-voiced man with drawings on his face… Tess, the blonde girl with the childish laugh…Kor, with his long beard…Samos, with his green skin and small eyes hidden behind his glasses…Daxter, the funny orange animal…and Jak, the blonde man with a short temper. There were others that he knew, like Vin, Ashelin, and his father (how could he ever forget the face of his father?), but none of those people he knew so well as his best friend. The green croca-dog that he had had with him for years…that was a face he knew well.

But the sad thing was…he would probably never see some of them again when the war was over.

The Kid was familiar with the affairs of Haven City, his home. He had seen death, although he wasn't sure what death was exactly. He was just four-years-old, after all. But death and Haven City went hand-in-hand, for Baron Praxis was the wielder of death. He sent his Krimzon Guard to kill whoever he wanted without a second thought. The Kid had seen the KG pull out some tube thing, aim it at a man in front of him, shoot something out of it, and then the man had fallen to the ground, never to move or get up again.

He sometimes wondered if there would ever be a tomorrow for him and the Underground. He was filled with sorrow every time he thought about one of his friends dying, sorrow that he wished would just go away.

The Underground was always so busy, no matter what time of day it was. Bright and early, dark and late…it didn't matter. There was always something to do in order to protect themselves. There was no time for tears even when someone died. They just remained expressionless and went about their work without any regard for the dead. Such was the ways of war.

_All around me are familiar faces  
Worn out places, worn out faces  
Bright and early for their daily races  
Going nowhere, going nowhere  
Their tears are filling up their glasses  
No expression, no expression  
Hide my head I want to drown my sorrow  
No tomorrow, no tomorrow_

The Kid remembered how he had these nightmares that seemed more like memories sometimes. He was dying in each and every one of them. But he didn't mind the dream-memories that much even if they were bad. They were the only dreams he ever had, or else he wouldn't dream at all. In a sense, they were the best he had ever had. He couldn't tell anyone about these dreams because he couldn't talk, and although he didn't mind them, he found it hard to take them night after night. There had to be something better than those horrible illusions of his death.

With regards to the war and the world, it seemed everyone was running in circles…even the Kid. He had been in the Palace once upon a time when his father ruled. Then the Baron had taken over and forced him out into the cruel world. Now the Underground was trying to get him back to the Palace. In the war, it was a constant cycle. The Underground would gain ground, then fall back because of the KG, then gain ground, and then fall. They were gaining and not falling right now, but the Kid believed that was only because of Jak's entering the war on the Underground's side.

The world was a very mad one.

_And I find it kinda funny  
I find it kinda sad  
The dreams in which I'm dying  
Are the best I've ever had  
I find it hard to tell you  
I find it hard to take  
When people run in circles  
It's a very, very mad world, m__ad world_

When the Kid's fourth birthday had come around, he remembered how happy he had been. He wasn't expecting for any presents this year, knowing fairly well that the Underground friends he had wouldn't have money for that. He didn't want anything from them, anyway; they probably wouldn't have known what to give a child for their birthday. Besides, none of them would have known it was his birthday except maybe Ashelin because they hadn't lived with him. He tried to let people know by holding up four fingers, but they mistook it as him wanting a high-five. He just sighed silently and smiled the whole day, sitting and listening to the depressing affairs of the Underground on the happiest day of his life like he had done every other day of the year.

He remembered when he had first come to the Underground. Samos had found him shortly after the incident where the Baron took over his father's position and kept the Kid safe from harm in the Underground's hideout. When Samos had explained that the Kid was the heir to the throne to the room full of rebels, so many eyes were on him that he couldn't help but feel nervous. No one had known who he really was, and he didn't know who any of them were.

Many months had passed since then. Now the only people who didn't know him were Jak and Daxter. The Kid tried to be friends with Jak, but the man with anger issues saw right through him. Once the boy had even tried to link hands with Jak. The man had pulled away immediately. To Jak, the Kid was just someone to protect for a mission's sake.

_Children waiting for the day they feel good  
Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday  
Made to feel the way that every child should  
Sit and listen, sit and listen  
Went to school and I was very nervous  
No one knew me, no one knew me  
Hello teacher tell me what's my lesson  
Look right through me, look right through me  
_

The Kid knew he would just have to accept everything that went on in such a mad world. He was, after all, just a child. There was nothing he could do to change things at his age. He would have to wait until he was older and stronger and smarter…until he was like Jak, only not so cold. He wouldn't run in circles like the rest of the world. Jak didn't; he bent circles into straight lines and wouldn't take anything from anyone that might make that straight line curve. He couldn't ever tell Jak this, but despite the man's incapability to notice the Kid, he was the Kid's role model.

So until he could become like Jak, the Kid would just have to continue to have his dying dreams…continue sitting and listening…and trying to be happy despite all the death, remembering all the familiar faces in his life so he wouldn't ever forget them.

_And I find it kinda funny  
I find it kinda sad  
The dreams in which I'm dying  
Are the best I've ever had  
I find it hard to tell you  
I find it hard to take  
When people run in circles  
It's a very, very mad world ... mad world  
Enlarging your world  
Mad world_

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_A/N: The end. What did you think? Please tell me. Thank you for reading._


End file.
